Fishing apparatus



H. WOOD FISHING APPARATUS 5,1921.

Dec.

. 33... 4 V u p l m. :.N K

A TTOR/VEY.

Mar. 27, 1923.

. WOOD FISHING APPARATUS Q. izivvg Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

HARVEY WOOD, OF WEST PATTERSON, NEW J ERSEY,

FISHING APPARATUS Applicationvflled ecember 5, 1921. s m No. 519,875.

T allwizomz'tmay concem: other when the vessel is to proceed to or' Be it known that I, HARvnY 7001), a citifrom the fishing ground. I 55 zen of the United'States, residing at West In the drawing, Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State Figure l is a plan of the improved fishofNew Jersey, have invented certain new ing apparatus; and useful Improvements in Fishing Ap -Figure 2 is a side'elevation thereof; t

paratus, of which the following is a speci- Figure 3 is a section onthe line 3 3 1of 60 fication. g-1; 'i I 7' v The object of this invention is to provide Figure 41 is a fragmentary plan; partly in. 10 a deep-water fishing apparatuswhereby fish section of one of the nets shown in Fig.1: may be caught by suspending a net or other and a part ofthe ,mechanism for control-Q suitable receptacle, subinerged,"trorn a float ling the same and its closures; and 65 ing vessel, the net havingone open side, and Figure. 5 is a plan View of On Of n t then moving the vessel along the surface showing'a modified form of'elosure means 1 or" the water in the direction in which the for the opening by which the fish enter the open side of'thereceptacle faces, the ap'pa} net.

ratus being so constructed as to insure the The vessel shown consists ofseveralpon-" 'm capture of the maximum number of fish too'ns it upon which is arranged and to'which while the fishing expedition is progressing is suitablyaifixed a deck or platform I) pref 'and to facilitate'the workofunloadingthe 'erably rectangular in plan; the deck may. captured fishinto the vessel; have openings or hatches'o 'through'which In carrying out my inventionI provide a the fish, when removed from the nets, ,niayf75 net or equivalent receptacle-and 'mean'sto be deposited in the pontoons. A'n-yotheri raise and lower the same, such receptacle form of ve'sselmay of course be utilized," having one, open side and preferably a but for reasons which will beobviousit-is closure'therefor with means to open the preferred thatnit be rectangular in plan; closure when the"re'cepta'clefis lowered or The direction of travel ofthe appal'atus 80 ;;-submerged and close the'same when the reshown in the drawingsis transversely-of the ceptacle is raised above the surface of the Sheet of 'drawing containing F igs". 1 and 2. water for the removal of the fish. The re-.' By means of stout brackets (Z arranged ceptacle is preferablya suitable reinforced the sides of the vessel which face'itsdirecrec'tangularnet"andihas-.aii opening in the tlons offtravel pairs of channel jiron-ups s5 side thereof next to" the vessel and a closure right guides e are secured rigidly to the vesforthis openingwhich is closed when the I sel, and these'have'sui'tably braced out-rigreceptacle is submerged and is adapted to gers 6 so that in efiect they form davitsfj be withdrawn when the "receptacle is ele- These davits; as'to their portions d, form-11 vated so as to permit access for removal of guides in which vertically travel the" nets, asfeo the fish; In the best: form of the invention will appear. I

I propose to use two such receptacles, plac Each net'consists of a rectangular angle ing'them' onopp osite sides of the vessel, and Hon frame f having preferablystrong' wire provide means for lowering one into posinetting'stretchedthereon and securedtherd tion for fishinga'nd raising the other into to in some suitable way so as to form'side 951 position for'unloading, simultaneously; and walls 9, a top wall i and a bottom wall 2'. in such a construction I further provide a What I term the back wall ('that'is, the up;

connecting gear between the tworeceptacles right wallrelatively near the vessel) is also so that in their up and down movements one formed by netting; but 'at this side of'the will'act as a counterbalance to the other. I net the same preferabl has an opening and 1 also provide in the preferred construction the netting forms a c osure therefor, thus;

raising and lowering gear of'such character In the'present example, a; permanent part that the two receptacles may be moved si-' of the wall, designated 7', extendsfrom'the' multaneouslyy one up and the other down, I top of the frame fto arigid transverse bar or one independently of the other, as when k,and the remainder of thewall is' formed one is'already up it is desired toeleva'te the by netting l fixedfin a rectangular frame whose bottom bar m is pivoted in the frame and whose top bar a may be caught and held by the hook or hooks 0 attached to the bar 7c, the closure formed by the parts Z 722 n being adapted to swing down, pivotally, into the position indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 8 and 4%, i, e., so as to rest on the deck I) of the vessel when the net is elevated. At its four inner corners the net frame 7' is equipped with rollers adapted to travel in the guideways of the uprights e. The frame 7 has at its outer corners rigid uprights 9 which in the planes of the top and bottom walls of the net are rigidly connected by the braces r and which form vertical guideways with the strips 8 secured to the frame parallel with and inwardly of the uprights g and spaced therefrom; these uprights g are extended above the top of the net and at their upper ends have inwardly recessed projections t which form extensions of the guideways. In the guidewa-ys slides vertically a closure consisting of a rectangular frame it having netting U stretched therein. It will be seen that the outer side of the net (the side away from the vessel) is open; when the net is in use, submerged, the mentioned closure will be raised in the g'uide'ways, so as to clear the opening, and when the net is out of use, elevated, the closure will be lowered, as at the right in Fig. 2. The elevation of the closure may be effected as follows: At each side it has a vertical rack to with which mesh the pinions m fixed on the shaft 3/ journaled in brackets e on the net frame f,- at the back of the net frame there is jour naled in a bracket 2 upstanding therefrom a rotary shaft 3 having a. hand-wheel 4 at the top and a bevel pinion 5 at its lower end, the latterme'shing with a bevel pinion 6 on a. shaft 7 journaled in brackets 8 on the net frame and having a bevel pinion 9 meshing with a bevel pinion 10 on the shaft The closure is usually elevated after the net is submerged and raised just before the net is elevated, wherefore the shaft extends high enough to bring the hand-wheel in convenient reach of an operator on the. deck in the lowered position of the net. Instead of the closure moving vertically: it may move horizontally. Thus in Fig. 5 the closure is formed in two sections 11-11 arranged to travel horizontally in suitable guideways in the outer portion of the net frame; they are adapted to be moved toward and from the closing position by levers 12 which have slot-and-pin connections 13 therewith and which are carried by upright shafts 1e! suitably journaled in the net frame and preferably having their upper ends squared to receive the correspondingly squared socket of a removable lever or wrench '16 for turning them.

17 designates two masts, which may be suitably braced by stays 18 and which have grooved sheaves 19. Over these extend the taut cables 20, the ends of each of which are suitably secured to the outer portions of the respective net frames f. By this an rangement the two nets are counterbalanced and their outer portions prevented from sagging.

F or raising and lowering the nets a suitable reversible engine or motor 21 is arranged on the deck Z). This engine may be connected by the gear 22 with one or more propelling means 23 for the vessel. By gearing 24 the drive shaft of the engine is connected with a shaft 25 parallel'therewith. On thisshaft are arranged sprocket wheels 26 and clutch devices 27 whereby each of the sprocket wheels may be disconnectively connected with the shaft 25 so as to rotate therewith or be free thereon. Around the sprocket wheels 26 and sprocket wheels 28 on the transverse shafts 29 journaled in suitable bearings 30 on the deck extend sprocket chains 31. The shafts 29 carry drums 32 on which are wound cables 33 that extend up over sheaves 34 on the out-riggers e and have their outer ends attached to the nets; there are eight of these cables, two being wound on each drum, and one cable in each pair is attached to the net more or less near the vessel and the other somewhat outward thereof so as to distribute the load.

When the apparatus is in use, the fishing ground having been reached, "the engine is operated so as to lower one of the'nets. The outward closure of this net is then 0 ened and the vessel made to proceed in the irecion in which the thus'o'pened side of the net faces until the net has become loaded with fish which enter its open side. Then said closure is closed and the engine operated to raise the net mentioned "and lower the other net (at which time the clutches '27 will be in position to render the sprocket wheels 26 both fast on theshaft25). Having elevated the filled net and lowered the other net, which will of course then have "its outer clo sure opened, and having caused the vessel now to proceed in the direction in which the open side of the now submerged net faces, the hands open the inward closure "Z ofthelfilled net and with rakes or otherwise remove from this net onto the deck of'the vesseland then into the hatches the fis'h'that have been caught. Then this closure is again "closed and the net of which it forms apart is lowered and the other net raised, after having closed its outer closure to entrap"'the 'fish therein, whereupon the outer closure of the first-named net is raised and the direction of the vessel reversed for'continuing the fishing operation with this net while the fish are being removed from the other net and so on. In order for the vessel to travel to or from the fishing ground, without either net being submerged,'the clutch 27 appertaining to the net which is elevated is'made to render its sprocket wheel 26 loose on the'shaft and then the engine operated to elevate the other net. To prevent the fall of the elevated net at this time a suitable holdin 0n shafts 29 and pawls 36 engageable vwith said ratchets, the pawls being of course both disengaged from the ratchets when the engine is to movethe nets in unison.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a fishing apparatus, a supporting structure including'a vessel, an up and down movable submersible hollow net structure guided by the supporting structure and ar-" ranged in outboard relation to the vessel and said net being closed except for a fish-receiving opening at one side thereof and a fishdelivery opening at the side thereof adjoiningthe vessel, a removable closure for the said sides, by the respectivemeans, and a taut flexible former opening, and means on the support? structure.

2. A fishing apparatus including a vessel, submersiblenetstructures arranged on opposite'sides thereof, and means on the vessel g for raising either net structure and lowering means may be provided as the ratchets 35' the other in unison.

.3, A fishing apparatus including/a vessel having upright guiding means at opposite sides thereof, submersible net. structures guided by the respective means,"and means on the vessel for raising either net structure and lowering the other in unison.

4. A fishing apparatus including a vessel having upright guiding means at opposite sides thereof and an upright support between submersible net structures guided 25 ing structure to raise and lower the net".

connection connecting one net structure with I the other and having a running engagement with said support.

In testimony whereof I afiix my si ature.

HARVEY OOD. 

